Hello from West Yorkshire, UK

Hi all.

Some of you may already know me from my thousands of posts on the BikeRadar and CycleChat forums under the same name (ColinJ). Many of you won't, however, since those forums mainly appeal to UK cyclists and I guess that the majority on this forum are from the USA.

I thought I'd join in here too, to expand my horizons somewhat.

I don't race. These days I stick mainly to road cycling, though I do go offroad on my MTB from time to time.

I ride quite a few audax (randonneuring) rides every year; not the real hardcore stuff, but I've done about ten hilly '200s' so far and numerous hilly '100s'.

I've ridden a few charity century rides in sub-6 hours but I've never really ridden one flat out. I'd like to do a 5 hour century one day, and I'd also like to ride a hilly '200' in 8 hours.

I live in the Pennine Hills of northern England. They are not proper mountains but they do go up to 1,500 - 2,000 ft in many places and the roads are sometimes horribly steep. So, the cycling is scenic and strenuous and that's what I like.

If any of you are ever in the Leeds or Manchester areas of England and want advice on challenging cycle routes in Lancashire, or North/West Yorkshire - just ask!

I just like to ride my bike in nice scenery, with nice people.

I'll try and make time to be a regular over here.

I'll leave you with a few of my photos of the kind of places I like to cycle (lifted off my personal blog) ...